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Tag: hiking

This weekend I divided and transplanted a clump of this purple Douglas Iris, a California native plant. The purple iris has beautiful flowers. Our favorite iris, it’s more delicate than the white irises I propagated several years ago. They’ve done great so we’re trying the purple ones this year.

After visiting Kauai last summer, we went to Honolulu where we joined a family hike in the Koolau Range that forms the backbone of Oahu. Shown above, we are hiking up the Wiliwilinui Ridge to the top of the Koolaus in the distance.

The day after seeing the Na Pali Coast by helicopter, we saw the Coast from land, hiking part of the Kalalau Trail. On the windward side of Kauai, the Na Pali Coast is hard volcanic rock battered by wind, rain, and erosion. Shown above from my helicopter ride, the Kalalau Trail starts on the left at Ke’e Beach, climbs up the cliff, and goes back down to the ocean at Hanakapi’ai Beach on the right.

After walking through Antelope Canyon on our southwest parks road trip, we drove to Zion National Park, where we crossed the Virgin River to hike to Emerald Pools. In early June, the Virgin River is quiet, so it’s hard to imagine that this river carved the Zion Canyon through the red rock. The peak in the photo is 1,400 feet above the river.

After seeing the Windows at Arches National Park, we hiked the Devil’s Garden Trail to Landscape Arch and Double O Arch. Shown above, Landscape Arch is the fifth-longest arch in the world, with a span of 290 feet (88 m).

On the second morning of our southwest parks road trip, we saw Courthouse Towers and the Windows, an area of Arches National Park with several large arches. That Friday, roads were closed for construction until 7 am, an hour past sunrise, so we missed the dawn light.

To kick off our southwest USA road trip, we scheduled three full days in Moab to see Arches and Canyonlands National Parks and to photograph the Milky Way.

We were hampered by road closures at Arches National Park (NP). This season, all park roads are closed for construction weekdays from 7 pm to 7 am. Since dawn was at 6 am and sunset was at 8:30 pm during our visit, the road closure prevented photos of sunrise, sunset, and stars on weekdays. A significant hiking area was closed entirely. 😦

As planned, we arrived in Moab on a Wednesday, one day before the new moon. Moonlight can obscure the faint stars of the Milky Way, so considering the moon phase is important when photographing Milky Way.

Our first morning in Moab was overcast — unfortunate because flat, gray light doesn’t bring out the best in the red rock. We started with the area’s most popular sight, entering Arches NP before the Visitor’s Center opened to hike to Delicate Arch. The hike is 3 miles (4.8 km) roundtrip and climbs 480 feet (146m). With no shade, hiking on a cloudy morning is easier than on a hot afternoon.